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Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

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The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

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Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

PNM Rate Case – Customer Bills and Future Production at Stake

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Thursday, July 14, 2011   

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is expected to issue a decision soon on a long-running PNM rate case. The ruling will affect how much more the state's 500,000 customers will pay for electricity, but could influence where that power comes from.

The pocketbook impact isn't the only consideration, says Mariel Manasi, executive director of the advocacy group New Energy Economy, which intervened in the case. Her organization takes issue with PNM for spending millions - and planning to spend hundreds of millions more - on retrofitting old coal plants while utilities in other states are phasing coal out because of coming environmental regulations and an unfavorable outlook on Wall Street.

"PNM is choosing to spend good money after bad, and that's our money. We want them to invest in New Mexico. We want less pollution and more clean-energy jobs. And this is being done by all of our neighbors."

Some investment will be made in clean energy, according to PNM's website, but the utility states that coal is enough to supply state demand - although the utility also notes that state demand has set new records in the past year.

New Mexico has been left behind on renewable-energy production, says Manasi, noting that the state ranks second in solar-power potential but has no large-scale solar production as is found in Arizona and Colorado.

"We want to transition and really open up New Mexico for business in the clean-energy economy, which will create badly needed jobs."

There are other implications, too. Nanasi says New Mexicans' health is suffering because of coal-fired production - seen in rising asthma rates and warnings about mercury contamination in rivers. It also can't be ignored that the state is enduring a drought, she says.

"They use 9.3 billion gallons of clean water every single year on their coal plants, so this is an extremely important time for us to invest in clean energy."

More public comments have been received by the PRC on this case than on any other in its history.

The New Energy Economy filing in the case is online at newenergyeconomy.org. PNM rate case documents are at http://www.pnm.com.


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